Sans levure, la pâte reste plus lourde, alors j’en garde toujours un sachet dans le placard.

After sans, French often uses a bare noun when talking about the absence of something in general:

• sans sucre
• sans beurre
• sans levure

Here, levure means yeast as an ingredient in a general sense, so no article is needed.

You could use an article if you meant a specific yeast already identified in context, for example:

• sans la levure que tu as achetée

But in this sentence, sans levure is the normal choice.

Because lourde agrees with la pâte, which is feminine singular.

• la pâte = feminine singular
• lourd = masculine singular
• lourde = feminine singular

So:

• un pain plus lourd
• une pâte plus lourde

This is standard adjective agreement in French.

Rester means to remain / to stay / to keep being. In this sentence, it suggests the dough stays or ends up heavier when there is no yeast.

So la pâte reste plus lourde sounds more natural than la pâte est plus lourde because it describes the resulting state of the dough.

• est plus lourde = is heavier
• reste plus lourde = remains/stays heavier

Both are understandable, but reste gives a more natural idea of texture/result.

Here plus is part of a comparison, so it means more:

• plus lourde = heavier

In this use, the final s is normally pronounced.

A useful contrast:

• plus lourde → comparative, usually pronounced plys
• ne... plus → no more / no longer, where the s is often not pronounced

So in this sentence, it clearly means heavier, not no longer heavy.

Here alors means something like so, therefore, or in that case.

It connects the two ideas:

• without yeast, the dough is heavier
• so I always keep a packet in the cupboard

It does not necessarily mean then in a time-sequence sense here. It is more of a logical connector.

En is a pronoun that usually replaces something introduced by de, or a vague/partitive idea like some of it.

Here, en replaces levure:

• Je garde toujours un sachet de levure dans le placard.
• J’en garde toujours un sachet dans le placard.

So j’en garde means I keep some / I keep some of it.

French uses en because the counted item is un sachet, and the thing inside the packet is de la levure.

You absolutely can say je garde toujours un sachet de levure. That is perfectly correct.

Using en avoids repeating levure, since it was already mentioned earlier in the sentence. French often prefers this kind of pronoun to make the sentence flow better.

So:

• je garde toujours un sachet de levure = explicit
• j’en garde toujours un sachet = more compact and natural after levure has already been mentioned

French object pronouns like en usually come before the conjugated verb:

• j’en garde

Then toujours often comes after the verb:

• j’en garde toujours

And then the noun phrase:

• j’en garde toujours un sachet

So the order is:

subject + pronoun + verb + adverb + noun phrase

This is very typical French word order.

Un sachet means a small packet or sachet. In this context, it refers to a packet of yeast, like the small packets sold for baking.

French often uses a container word or measure word with ingredients:

• un sachet de levure
• un paquet de farine
• une bouteille d’huile

So in the sentence, un sachet is the unit being counted, not the yeast itself.

Dans le placard means in the cupboard / cabinet. The definite article le is natural when the place is understood from context.

French often uses the definite article where English might sometimes prefer my or a, especially when the speaker means a familiar, obvious place.

So:

• dans le placard = in the cupboard
• dans mon placard = in my cupboard, more explicit
• dans un placard = in a cupboard, less specific

In this sentence, dans le placard sounds natural because it refers to the usual cupboard where the speaker keeps things.

Because levure is normally treated as an uncountable substance here, like flour, sugar, or butter.

You usually do not count yeast itself as separate individual items in this context. Instead, you count the container or amount:

• de la levure
• un sachet de levure
• un peu de levure

So un sachet is the countable unit, while levure is the ingredient.

Yes: the circumflex accent in pâte is important in writing.

• pâte = dough / paste
• patte = paw / leg of an animal

In modern pronunciation, the difference may be small or absent depending on accent, but in spelling they are different words, so you should write pâte correctly.

Also, remember that pâte is feminine:

• la pâte
• une pâte lourde